Get Out Your Damn Umbrellas

Chapter 14

The side table lamp in the living room stayed on all through the night. Phil lay awake for hours listening to the sound of Dan breathing and feeling the thrum of Dan's heartbeat against his own chest. As much as Phil needed sleep, he needed this more, just to exist moment to moment in a world where Dan was still here.

Dan slept, though not very peacefully. The boy drifted in and out of consciousness, occasionally emitting a small cry and jolting awake. Each time this happened, Phil tensed up, emotionally preparing himself to let go and give Dan space in case he got scared by being this close. To his relief, however, instead of pulling away, Dan burrowed closer to him and held on tighter.

"Shh, it's alright," Phil whispered each time. "Go back to sleep. I've got you."

It wasn't until the early hours of the morning when the cold gray dawn peaked over the edge of the dark sky that Phil remembered his phone conversation with Louise. What made him remember was hearing a knock on the door.

Checking to make sure Dan was still asleep, Phil got up from the sofa carefully and laid a blanket over Dan before going to answer the door. It had to be Louise. No one would've come knocking at this early hour unless they'd been given good reason to worry about them. Phil had no clue what he was going to say to Louise, but he couldn't just leave her standing outside.

Sure enough, when he opened the door, he found Louise standing on the doorstep. Even in the dim light of the streetlamps, it was easy to tell she hadn't gotten any sleep either

"I think your phone ran out of battery," she said in a strained whisper. "I stayed on the line until it went dead, but when I tried to call back it went straight to voicemail."

Still feeling a bit disconnected from reality, Phil stood silently in the doorway for a minute before responding. "Sorry, I... um, dropped the phone on the floor and sort of... forgot about it."

"Is it alright if I come in?"

Phil sighed and massaged his eyelids. "Yeah, sure."

Louise quietly followed him inside as he led her upstairs to the kitchen. Then when Phil turned on the lights, she gasped and clasped a hand over her mouth.

"Oh my God, Phil, what-?"

Phil looked down and realized he still had bloodstains on his shirt.

"Louise, it's okay," Phil said quickly. "Dan's okay. He's asleep right now, so just please keep your voice down. I don't want to wake him up."

Taking a deep breath to try to calm herself, Louise spoke in a hushed tone and asked, "What happened?"

Phil hesitated, unsure of what to say or how much he ought to explain. "Dan... he had had a few cuts on his stomach. They weren't that deep, though. I was able to bandage them up. He's going to be alright, Louise. I promise."

"Where was he when you found him?"

The memory of finding Dan flashed in Phil's mind. He clamped his eyes shut and felt like he was going to be sick.

"Phil, please, just tell me what's going on," Louise begged. "I heard you screaming like the world was coming to an end. What happened?"

Staring down at the kitchen floor, Phil answered in a shaky voice, "I found Dan hanging in the closet with a belt around his neck."

The silence that followed was deafening. Then he heard Louise take a few steps forward and felt her rest a hand gently on his arm.

"He's asleep now, yeah?" Louise whispered. Phil nodded mutely. "Okay. We can let him rest for a little while, but when he wakes up, we've got to take him to A and E."